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The aim of this article is to make explicit the kinds of arguments provided for evidence and explanations of the causes of growth, while paying some attention to the complexities and differences in interpretation of the models and data at issue. While its examples focus on growth, the practices described here are common and not peculiar to work on growth. Along the way, this article discusses such deep issues as the probability foundations of econometrics, the place of non-statistical evidence, conceptions of economics as a separate science, and complex kinds of causality. The issues are big...

The aim of this article is to make explicit the kinds of arguments provided for evidence and explanations of the causes of growth, while paying some attention to the complexities and differences in interpretation of the models and data at issue. While its examples focus on growth, the practices described here are common and not peculiar to work on growth. Along the way, this article discusses such deep issues as the probability foundations of econometrics, the place of non-statistical evidence, conceptions of economics as a separate science, and complex kinds of causality. The issues are big and hard ones, thus they are not assessed completely. However, at the end this article tries to give a clearer understanding of two important research traditions in economics and their relation to issues in the philosophy of science.